Tang-Tibet Road and the Tea-Horse Road

Sichuan and Yunnan in southwest China are major tea producing areas since ancient time. So some people guess that Tibet, which is near Sichuan and Yunnan, had tea since Han Dynasty. However, the Tibetans, who held Princess Wencheng in high esteem, chose to believe that it was she who brought tea to Tibet. in early years of Tang Dynasty, Songzan Gambo (617-650), who just founded a slavery regime in Ti bet, sent envoys to the capital of Tang to pay respect to Emperor Taizong (reign from 626 to 649) and asked for a marriage. Taizong decided to pick a princess in his relatives and married her to Tibet. In 641, the team escorting Princess Wencheng to Tibet set forth from capital Chang'an (today's Xi'An of Shaanxi Province), went along the north bank of River Wei and across Long Mountain to Qinzhou (today's Tianshui of Gansu). Then they went on westward through Hezhou (today's Linxia of Gansu) and the Yellow River until they reached Qinghai. They passed Longzhi to Shancheng (today's Xining of Qinghai), along River Qiang (today's Yaowang River) in the direction of southwest They climbed over Zi Mountain (today's Bayankara Mountain) and went across River Maoniu (today's Tongtian River), past Yushu region and over Dangta Mountain to Nagchu in north Tibet. At last they arrived at the Tibetan capital Lhosa (today's Lhasa), opening a new chapter in the history of amity between Tang and Tibet.